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China kindergarten stabbing: Woman slashes at least 14 children

A woman wielding a kitchen knife has attacked at least 14 children at a kindergarten in Chongqing in central China, local police said Friday.

Chongqing City Banan District police said the children were slashed as they walked back to class after their morning exercises at Yudong New Century Kindergartenabout 9.30 a.m. local time.

Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed small children bleeding from severe cuts to their faces at the entrance of the kindergarten as stunned adults looked on.

School security guards and staff restrained the 39-year-old attacker and took her into custody. Video from the scene appeared to show angry onlookers attempting to hit and kick the woman after she was detained.

Chongqing resident Xia Yang said the attack had shocked residents of the city, a metropolis of some 30 million people.

Nearby residents said the kindergarten doesn't have any outdoor space for the children, and they have to use a local public park for their morning exercises.

"It happened when the children were entering the school gate ... The attacker just ran at them with a knife. The teachers were dumbstruck," said Zhang Jing, who lives close to the school.

He told CNN old people out shopping for groceries had intervened to stop the attack.

Video from the hospital showed adults wailing in grief as children covered in blood were rushed from ambulances into the building. In another video, a child whose head is wrapped in bandages was pushed past on a gurney, as crowds looked on.

Zhang said after the knife attack and recent scandals over faulty medicine for children
, he's increasingly skeptical of the government's ability to look after his own daughter.

"It is terrifying. The vaccines are faulty, the food is faulty ... and right now even the security is problematic," he told CNN.

There is no information about a potential motive for the attack. Police are continuing to investigate.